So after turning the empty business block in downtown Barnes into a thriving enterprise, she moved on down K-9 highway and helped set up a similar shop in Marshall County.

The Blue Rapids Mercantile offers an ever-changing array of antiques and other collectible merchandise from independent vendors along with new books by Kansas authors, original photographs, jams, jellies and handmade jewelry. Oh, yes, there are also soaps and dried-flower arrangements made by a granddaughter and grandmother.

Then, there is the museum exhibit.

Lori Parker, who is Blaske's partner in the mercantile, is vice president of the Blue Rapids Historical Society.

"Joyce and I had been talking about bringing a business to the community," Parker said. She wanted it to be a gathering place for the community, too.

So the back of the store is dedicated to a historical display that includes artifacts loaned by area residents.

"When we did wars, we got a wedding dress made out of a parachute," Parker said. A display on storms brought in a letter that was written after tornadoes struck the area in the late 1800s.

The current exhibit has American Indian artifacts and memorabilia.

The mercantile concept started when Blaske moved to Washington County from Illinois in 1992. She said she bought the business block in Barnes with the idea that she would fix it up and sell it.

She thought it would be easier to sell if it had some sort of business up and running, so she invited local crafters to sell there on weekends.

Blaske said she then invited vendors whose products were selling to leave their items through the week to be sold on consignment. And the mercantile was born.

It gave Blaske a venue for selling her jams and jellies, which are made from fruit that comes from the farm she and her husband, Dick, operate. She also created an elderberry concentrate that tastes good — it has locally produced honey among its ingredients.

"It really helps to stretch the farm income," she said. "And our goal is to stay on the farm."

The clientele at the mercantile is mostly local, Blaske said. Vendors bring visiting family and friends in to shop.

"It's bringing money into the community, and (the money's) staying in the community," Parker said.

The commissions from the vendors cover the utilities.

"Nobody's carrying the whole load," Blaske said

Parker works at the shop when she isn't at her full-time job, and her husband, Tom, also works the register. His book, "Dispatches from Kansas," can be found on the shelves, and his photographs are on the walls for sale along with photos taken by Blaske.